By JULIANNE HOMOKAY
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer
Concert pianist John Reith, who for years has been accompanying Sunday services at St. Richard’s Episcopal Church in Skyforest, will perform a concert at his church this Saturday, May 30, at 2 p.m. The performance will benefit the Mountain Homeless Coalition.
Reith has taken great care to put together an engaging program for a wide audience. “Whenever I do a recital, I feel like I’m taking people on an emotional road trip,” he said. To that end, he has organized his selections chronologically, and has also made efforts to balance the light with the dark.
During the first half, Reith will perform “what they’re used to hearing me do,” meaning the small following he’s built here on the mountain. He has devoted the first half entirely to Ludwig von Beethoven, opening with variations on the theme that eventually became “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” With this selection, he hopes to acknowledge the current political unrest in our country: “Music is the great peacemaker.” Musically, he’ll then provide a bridge to the much heavier “Pathétique.” He will close with “Adieu To The Piano,” a piece Beethoven composed after he went totally deaf by feeling vibrations through his piano, and that Reith describes as having “a Pachelbel’s Canon feel.”
The music committee at St. Richard’s encouraged community involvement, so for the second half, he wanted to “do things that I know that people love,” including famous pieces by Frédéric Chopin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Claude Debussy. He will also invite vocalist Lacy Mason up to perform audience favorites such as “Amazing Grace” and Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” and lead the audience in a singalong. A reception will follow the performance in St. Richard’s fellowship room.
For Sue Walker, president of the Mountain Homeless Coalition, the benefit could not come at a better time. The organization’s federal funding has been frozen: “It’s on hold, we haven’t received it for over a year,” she said. “State funding has been somewhat reduced” as well, she reported, upwards of $85,000.
Needless to say, this sharp drop in funding has seriously affected the organization’s ability to carry out its three-pronged approach. “When people are on the street or in their car, we want to get them in emergency shelter, which we do at local motels,” Walker said. Their second area of interest is to help their clients plan for long-term housing. A third top priority is to help people who are at-risk of being unhoused stay in their homes by helping with back rent and utilities.
Despite the dearth of funding, Walker still encourages anyone who is at risk of homelessness, or knows someone who is, to visit their website at mountainhomelesscoalition.com and fill out the intake form. The organization also maintains a helpline, (909) 713-4099, which is staffed Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Even beyond direct monetary donations, “Businesses can help, individuals can help,” Walker continued. “If people could get their churches to make up five welcome baskets, that would be a great help. Other churches could think up ways to do a fundraiser for us.” Ultimately, “we’re very thankful for the way our community supports out work.”
For Reith and Walker, Saturday’s concert is a rare opportunity to provide a classical music offering combined with a charitable effort. “I’m the chameleon fundraiser,” said Reith, who has also performed benefits to raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine and of the recent fires in Altadena and Pacific Palisades. It’s part of Reith’s philosophy: “All music is to be shared.”
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